The Anonymous Widower

Housing

I have very strong views on housing. Partly I suspect because C and myself and our three boys had such difficulty finding a house in London in the 1970s. That was how we ended up in the Barbican, as we had enough income to rent a flat, but not enough deposit to buy a £7,000 house. Those who reckon today’s housing  market is crazy, should read about how difficult in was in the 1960s and 1970s.

We lived in a variety of places including two rented modern flats, two large country properties, which we extended to my designs, another damp fourth floor walk-up flat and a new build estate box.

I feel strongly that housing should be matched to those who live in it, so one person living in a multi-million pound house could be just as scandalous as an empty one.

As a Control Engineer, I believe very much in stable systems and we’ve had a stable housing market bouncing on the bottom for decades, where houses are not matched to needs and because too few are being created, houses are far too expensive.

The general public like this status quo, as they can boast that their house has gone up £50,000 or so, whilst they made you cup of tea.

All new developments like new housing, high speed rail and fracking are opposed by the selfish idiot in the Chelsea tractor, as it might drop their house price.

So what should we do?

1. Every empty dwelling, should be brought back into occupation. Have you ever noticed how many empty flats are above shops?

2. We should give the building industry a good kicking, so that many of these empty dwellings are got ready.

3. Any empty dwelling should be heavily taxed unless it is in the process of being prepared for occupation. Those, who buy-to-leave should be taxed heavily so that they find renting the flat or house to someone who needs it, a much better alternative.

4. A person or family, who has more than one home for solely their personal use, should pay a special tax.

5. There should be no Council Tax discount for those living alone in large dwellings. Why for instance should I get one?

6.Perhaps too, like many European countries, we should pay Capital Gains Tax in some way on our houses.

7.Inheritance Tax drives too much of the housing market. Not only does it create worries for everybody, but it often condemns single elderly people to live in large draughty, energy-inefficient houses, when the best thing to do with the house is demolish it and create several new homes of which the elderly person has the pick! So let’s abolish the tax on principle recidences. However, whatever we do is going to be complicated with tax, so we had better get it right. The politicians who have done good impressions of Nero fiddling while Rome burned since the war, don’t stand a chance as they are all too tied to their vested interests.

8. But above all we need more new dwellings and a lot of those should be affordable. We have some of the best architects in the world in the UK, but underneath the top level, they just produce boring crap and much of it is just Pete Seager’s little boxes, where you park the car outside and live boring lives. C and I had a house like that in the country in the 1960s and we escaped to  the damp flat in London.

Above all we must be radical. I was brought up in the suburbs of London and it was boring and bland. So why not clear some of these areas and create housing fit for purpose, that is energy efficient and doesn’t rely on every resident having their own personal car? In many ways, too many cars is one of the biggest problems in this country, as it necessitates that all houses must have space for two.

I don’t want this to turn into the rant of a bitter old man, which I am not! In some ways, it’s a fact that I made my money by inventing disruptive technology, so let’s disrupt the cosy cartel of those with homes, councils of fat-cat Tories or champagne Socialists, who like the certainty of getting elected and a building industry not fit for purpose, that likes big repetitive expensive contracts.

So if we are going to build more dwellings, where should we build them?

Although, it was done in a rather boring way, the development of the new Dalston Junction station, where flats were built over the station was very good. I have heard that Transport for London are rebuilding Dalston Kingsland station. They should be bold and effectively put the North London Line in a tunnel and build gardens and a new square over the top, with tower blocks providing the accommodation. C and I lived in a tower block with three children in the Barbican and it worked. At the present time, we have the architects and design skills to create housing, but those who live near-by don’t want it on their doorstep.

But imagine being a couple with two young children, living high above the city in a modern almost zero-energy flat in the clean air with superb views. To go shopping, you just take the lift to the shops and market below and to travel the same lift takes you into the railway station.

It was almost ideal like that in the Barbican, except that there was no supermarket, as there is today. But we had the market in Whitecross Street.

Every rail station, should have meaningful development over the top. Imagine putting the local hospital on top of a station, so that it is the easiest place in the city to get to.

We need more innovative solutions to our housing crisis, but most of the population still prefer what we have.

I sometimes think that the whole of the economics of this country is driven by the houses we own. Somehow we must break that link and allow everybody to purchase the dwelling that they need.

October 31, 2014 - Posted by AnonW | World | Housing